The Senate was informed Wednesday that 2475 billion rupees tax target has been set for the current financial year and an amount of 1026 billion rupees have been collected during the first half of the year.
Minister of State for Education and Interior Muhammad Balighur Rehman on behalf of Finance Minister told the House during question hour that from July to November 2013 an amount of 798.6 billion rupees was collected that is 16.4 percent higher than the corresponding period of the last year.
He said that during the five months 93.7 percent target has been achieved.
The Minister of State said that government is focusing on increasing the tax base. He said as a result of the government’s policy the number of tax returns has increased to a great deal.
To a question‚ Balighur Rehman said tax on mobile phone cards is collected under a mechanism. He said that during the last year 27 billion rupees tax was collected from the mobile phone users.
He said in 2011-12‚ 36.8 billion rupees tax was collected from the mobile phone users while the amount in 2010-11 was 27.5 billion rupees.
He said that the new SIMs are being issued under Biometric System in Karachi and the system is being extended to all other parts of the country.
To a question‚ the Minister of State said that under Kerry-Lugar Bill 1.5 billion dollars could be allocated per year starting from 2009. He said that in 2011-12 an amount of 491 million dollars were released under the bill while in 2012-13‚ 582 million dollars were released.
He said in 2011-12 an amount of 125 million dollars were used for the public sector development projects while in 2012-13 an amount of 102 million dollars were used in government sector while the remaining amount was utilized by the private sector development organizations.
To a question‚ Balighur Rehman said that different countries including USA‚ UK‚ France‚ Germany‚ China‚ Saudi Arabia‚ European Union‚ Japan and South Korea provided a grant of six billion dollars to Pakistan from 2002 onward.
He said during the same period these countries provided loan worth 6.7 billion dollars to Pakistan.
The House offered Fateha for the departed soul of the mother of Senator Maula Bakhsh Chandio.